That afternoon, Emery watched the sun setting in the west with her fingers running through the emperor’s hair, who was already asleep right beside her. It took her several minutes to convince him that he should rest even just for a while since she won’t be running away. Looking at his sleeping figure, she cannot help but feel grateful for the kindness and consideration he had been giving her these past few weeks even after knowing the truth that she had been using him.  As much as she wanted to repay him, she just cannot choose the option of staying by his side. She knew too well that the palace was no safe place for her twins even if she was recognized as the beloved wife and empress of the emperor in the future. She was just nothing but a mistress in that empire after all and in the eyes of the court and even the people, Emperor Claus deserved to be with a woman from a nobl

“And by that, you mean?” the prime minister asked. “Since I am now a part of the royal family, I have the right to challenge someone in position or any person from a distinguished lineage to a duel to death,” Emery replied, making Prime Minister Rastus flinch upon realizing what she wanted to do. “You cannot do that, Lady Emery. You may have met the requirements to ask for that, however, the emperor will surely not approve of it.” She narrowed her sight on him with her shoulders squared, wanting him to know that she wanted this to push through. “It is never stated in the law to have the emperor’s approval.” 

“Different,” Jadeite hissed. “He is definitely different because he will hurt you in another way. First, he just watched his empress trample over you during their wedding reception. What’s next? Watch you die? Is that considered love, Emery? Is that how you define it?” Emery was unable to say a word, hence, Lila stepped between them and pushed Jadeite out of the room to help her cool down her head. Raphael, on the other hand, simply gave Emery a small pat on the shoulder. “Jadeite has a point,” he said. “However, if you truly want to stay here, then I support you for that. I know you are thinking about the kids’ future so you are not to be blamed.” She managed a small smile. 

The consecutive clashing of blades filled the open ground of the knights’ barracks as Emery and Jadeite continued to fight each other. It had been more than five minutes already and yet the latter showed little sign of exhaustion despite the fact that she had been all over the place like an agile and skilled monkey. Meanwhile, Emery seemed to be so close to falling on her knees as beads of sweat ran down the side of her face. Her heavy breathing pretty much showed that her endurance was not that good. “You have gone rusted, Emery!” Jadeite claimed, wearing her infamous grin.  She tightened her hold onto her pair of short swords and sprinted towards Emery. She had tired her out so a head-on and full attack would most likely end the first round of their sparring. Slashing diagonally with her right hand first, Eme

On the day before the duel between Emery and the empress, the former just finished her daily training with Jadeite in the barracks of the knights. She did not want to exhaust herself too much so right after their morning drill, she decided to go back to Euthoria Mansion and have some rest. Jadeite, on the other hand, stayed behind and had sparrings against the other knights. Before she could leave the barracks, Castor walked up to her. “You still have some time to back out,” he said even though he already knew that Emery would do no such thing. “Backing out is not one of my options, Sir Castor,” she replied. Just as she was about to leave, she stopped for a moment and hesitantly asked, “H-His Imperial Highness… H-How is he? He never visited for the past few days so…” “If you are worried, then it is better to go and check up on him yourself,” the knight replied, giving her a pat on the shoulder before heading back inside the barracks. Emery let out a sigh. She did receive a report f